


it's gonna be our night

by iridescentkippen



Category: High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (TV)
Genre: M/M, Short Circuiting Carlos Rodriguez, basically an episode 5 character study, but ashlyn cheers him up, carlos is big sad, gay pining, i already posted this on tumblr but my ao3 was hella empty so here ya go, like the icon she is, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:55:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22088971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iridescentkippen/pseuds/iridescentkippen
Summary: carlos hopes for a good night and seb just wants to be a good bf aka an episode five carlos character study i wrote at two am feat ashlyn caswell, protector of gays
Relationships: Carlos Rodriguez/Seb Matthew-Smith, Carlos/Seb Matthew-Smith
Comments: 5
Kudos: 31





	it's gonna be our night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [for the HSMTMTS discord (i love y'all sm)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=for+the+HSMTMTS+discord+%28i+love+y%27all+sm%29).



> hi i wrote this when episode five first came out and posted it on tumblr but it deserves to be on here too
> 
> stan seblos for clear skin

It was a Friday night, and Carlos had no homework. What he should have been doing was hugging his pillow and crying to The Notebook for the fifth hundredth time before calling Ashlyn at two in the morning to cry that, "Ash, why don't I have a hot boyfriend like Ryan Gosling?" but instead he was tearing through his closet to try and find the tie that would match his suit. Why did homecoming have to be so stressful?

Ashlyn is perched on the end of his bed, scrolling on her phone, when her gasp causes Carlos to pull himself out of his closet to look at her. "What?"

"I know my cousin is shallow, and I know he sometimes doesn't have the best taste in girls, but Gina?" She turns her phone towards him to show Gina's Instagram story of the two of them at dinner.

Carlos rolls his eyes, going back to tearing through his stuff before finally finding the tie he was looking for. "Didn't he and Nini just call it quits like, yesterday? He didn't seem over her last I saw," He throws the tie over his shoulder onto where his tux is sitting next to Ashlyn, and the redhead ducks as it comes towards her.

"Dude, warn me next time you start chucking clothes at me," The two start laughing, before falling down next to each other on Carlos' bed.

"You know, if I have to go insane with someone, I'm glad it's you. I thought I would have no friends at East High, but now I have you and Seb and Miss Jenn-" He cuts himself off when he realizes how dumb he sounds.

They start cackling again before Ashlyn shoves him and the two sit up. "C'mon, let's get you into that and send a photo to lover boy before he thinks you've forgotten all about him." Carlos blushes as he pulls on the coat and attempts to get the tie on correctly before forcing Ashlyn to do it.

"What if he thinks I look dumb? What if he looks so nice that I start blushing and stuttering over my words? What if-"

"Carlos, I mean this in the nicest way possible. Shut up!" She takes a photo of him on the boy's phone before handing it back to him. He sends the photo to his date, but not without getting teased by his best friend for already having put hearts by the other boy's name.

The rest of the afternoon goes as smoothly as it can when all Carlos wants to do is check his phone every ten seconds to see if Seb has replied. He and Ashlyn do photos outside his house before running to McDonald's because in her words, "We are not spending money on nice food when we could each get twenty chicken nuggets and a large soda for way cheaper," and he's learned not to argue with her when it comes to fast food.

Ashlyn finally takes his phone from him and says she'll tell him if Seb texts because he can't stay off of it long enough to have an actual conversation. They finish eating before rushing to the school to meet the rest of the theatre kids.

Ricky and Big Red meet them at the door and they all head in, finding the table reserved for them. After sitting there for nearly ninety minutes, Carlos turns to Ashlyn, worry painting his face. "What if he doesn't show up?"

"He will, Carlos, I promise. Maybe he just got caught in traffic," Carlos frowns at her before checking his phone again.

"Traffic? We live in Salt Lake City, Ash, I'm pretty positive there hasn't been traffic here since the 2002 Olympics. Also, he left me on read. What could that mean?" Ashlyn sighs, turning off his phone for him.

"I dont know, idiot. Now put your phone away and have fun until he gets here! C'mon, let's go dance!"

Carlos frowns, urging himself not to cry. "Let's face it, Ash, I've been stood up. Let's go home. We still have time to get in HSM and Camp Rock if we go now,"

"No, I'm not letting you give up this easily. Get something to drink and then come dance with me!" She grabs his arm, tugging him out of his seat and through the crowd made of their peers. "See, even Ricky and Red are having a good time." The two boys are awkwardly dancing and laughing as Red continues to trip over his feet every five seconds.

Ashlyn shoves him towards the drink table before disappearing into the crowd of people, leaving him alone. Mr. Mazzara talks to him, and he responds, but he isn't really sure what he's saying even as he's handed a cup of something red and sweet. It tastes a little bit like alcohol, and he's not sure some kid didn't spike it when Mazzara wasn't watching, but he still drinks the whole thing anyway. Maybe it'll make him forget Seb.

A song he loved when he was little starts playing, and a small smile breaks out on his face. He drops the cup in the garbage before sighing and walking into the crowd of people. He sways on his own a little before Ashlyn finds him and the two dance and scream the lyrics at each other. There was definitely something in the punch as he feels more confident than he has in years. He doesn't even remember why he was so sad. Ashlyn calls out to him, "So, have you decided you can have fun without Seb being here?"

Oh, right. That's why he was so sad. And everything hits him again as he takes a deep breath and shrugs. He's about to ask her if they can still go home now because he tried staying here and he just can't, when suddenly he sees him. Standing in the doorway is Seb, a look on his face Carlos can't quite describe in his half tipsy state. Ashlyn sees him too, as a smile breaks out onto her face and she looks like she's going to cry of happiness.

"He's here! Go say hi!" She shoves him, and he stumbles across the gym towards the blonde boy.

"Hey, sorry I'm so late," And with those five words, Carlos forgives him because he just can't stay mad at Seb. He just can't.

"You're almost three hours late," Seb sighs, not meeting Carlos' eyes.

"I know, one of our cows went missing and I was the only one who could find her,"

"But not answering my texts?" Seb giggles, looking at his feet.

"We don't have great service out there. I really was trying to, I promise," A slow song comes on and Seb smiles, holding out his hands to the other boy. "Can I have this dance?"

He smiles, taking Seb's hands, and in that moment everything is perfect. Maybe everything can be okay, just the two of them. "Of course." And then the two of them dance for the rest of the night, not paying attention to anybody else in the room (even though Ashlyn sneakily takes photos of them to make fun of Carlos later). And everything is okay. Everything is perfect.


End file.
